Scott Beaulier

Scott Beaulier

Scott Beaulier is the Executive Director of Arizona State University’s new Center for Economic Liberty within the W.P. Carey School of Business.

He has published widely, and most of his work focuses on Applied Microeconomics, Development Economics, and Political Economy. His op-eds have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Times, and Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and he also writes regularly for the Birmingham News, which is Alabama’s largest newspaper.

Before coming to Troy University, he was Department Chair of Economics at Mercer University. He completed his Ph.D. work at George Mason University in 2004.

Working Papers

We find that union political contributions and collective bargaining are associated with higher incomes for state and local employees and with higher public employment, both across state and local government overall as well as within the education sector. We also find little to no evidence that union activity influences total spending.

This paper looks at the recent growth in Medicaid spending and attempts to explain Medicaid reform successes and failures by focusing on five reform experiences in Rhode Island, Washington, Florida, Idaho, and Tennessee.

Policy Briefs

Fiscal policy at both the federal and state levels is on an unsustainable path. Entitlement reform in America—particularly Medicaid reform—is shifting from a question of whether cuts should be made, to how much must be cut? To better understand best practices in Medicaid reform, we explore five recent state-level Medicaid reforms and their ability to simultaneously reduce costs, maintain or increase access, and survive the politics of reform.

America’s fiscal mess, coupled with poor management in the past and changing demographics, guarantees that public pension systems across the country will be reformed. At the margin, the case for more radical shifts from defined benefit to defined contribution plans is strong.

Expert Commentary

Last Friday, America’s four postal employee unions organized a mass protest against Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe’s plan to shut down 80 distribution centers in January 2015. The postal workers, quite understandably, see their livelihoods at stake. Many reformers, however, see the rising share of public sector unionization as a drain on our tax dollars and a likely source of government growth—which, as new research reveals, may not be the case.

Across the nation, states and cities are struggling to keep up with their obligations to fund state worker pensions. Detroit--desperately trying to reduce its obligations in federal bankruptcy court--is the classic example. But the financial sinkhole swallowing Detroit is spreading throughout the country at an alarming rate.